VI Corps Guestbook

Submitted by
Name: Lyn
From: Hainge
E-mail: lsh1@comcast.net

Comments:
Hi, everyone. I'm trying to find information about the 373rd Engineers, 2nd Batallion, third platoon of Company D. My dad (Arthur "Satie" Satryb) served with that unit starting in roughly July, 1944. I have just found his photo album from those days and would love to know more about the stories he was trying to capture. He died when I was just a kid (16) so I never got to ask him about it.

Added: June 27, 2014

Submitted by
Name: John Foster Leach
From: Kenmore, New York
E-mail: mrmjgrandpy@gmail.com

Comments:
My dad was Foster E. Leach. He served in the 148th Combat Engineer BAT. as a stores clerk during the war. He was part of the crew that built the Hodges Bridge, and was responsible for ordering the equipment for the bridge. He passed in 1982, but his efforts to keep us free will live on.

Added: June 24, 2014

Submitted by
Name: Joel Schooler
From: Houston, Texas
E-mail: bikecopjoe@hotmail.com

Comments:
Mr Burgett, I read your book "Currahee" back when I was in Junior High school in the late 1960s. I was motivated to enter the US Army right after I graduated from High School. I was not able to go airborne because I was kept being denied by superior officers. Did my time and then joined the Houston Police Department. I think it was your book that inspired me to serve my country and my community because of the way you presented the straight forward facts and somehow indicated that we all have a responsibility to each other. Thank you for showing me and hopefully others what it means to give and not take.

Added: June 21, 2014

Submitted by
Name: Scott A. Sumner
From: Casper, Wyoming
E-mail: SRiverrat11@aol.com

Comments:
I am starting to research my Uncle Vern Schnitzus. He was in Co. A, 1273rd Engineer Combat Battalion. I know he was in Europe but have not found anything on his unit. I believe if I could find the unit the 1273rd was attached to I could find out more. Uncle Vern passed in 1989 but I have always loved WWII history. I would appreciate any assistance given.

Added: June 19, 2014

Submitted by
Name: Roger O. Jones
From: Lemoore, Ca
E-mail: jonesr-r@sbcglobal.net

Comments:
My Dad, Lt. Owen John Jones served in the 187th and was KIA in Western Germany on Feb 22, 1945..... That's all I've ever known.. until now..

Thanks to sites like this and American Memorials Overseas I've learned he was killed by a Tank mine in Waldfeucht, Germany, near and Old Windmill.. and that a Memorial Plaque had been dedicated in 1986, to him and the 4 men who died with him that day in 1945. With the help and support of the local community folks, many foreign Armed Forces, and survivor of the incident named: Charles "Chuck" McGuire.. there was several hundred people there for the Dedication.

If only I could have been there. But I am SO PROUD to have learned about all of this. It's been a Shadow that now has Light.

If anyone might have more information about those days.. I'm still trying to learn more.

Regards, R. Joe Jones

Admin reply: Dear Joe: Sad circumstances, but glad you were able to discover what happened in Feb '45. Hopefully you have learned more about the unit, this summer. Glad my site proved helpful.

Added: June 14, 2014

Submitted by
Name: Jennifer Deal Becker
From: Rochester NY
E-mail: jsdbecker@gmail.com

Comments:
Thank you, Marion, for all your work. As my husband and I are watching the Ken Burns "The War" documentary, I became more interested in my father's World War II service. I hadn't heard much because I was born over two decades after the war ended and because my parents separated when I was an infant. I knew he entered the service at age 18, just after his junior year of high school, and we have a copy of his discharge papers. Finding the detailed history of the 179th Engineer Combat Battalion on your site was like finding a treasure. My father's name is listed in Company A’s 2nd Platoon - Walter E. Deal Jr - though I think he went by "Joe." The photo is blurry, though, so I can't find him in it. Dad died on Veteran's Day in 1999, at age 74. So again thanks-it's good to be able to remember him in a new way.

Admin reply: You are so welcome. I enjoyed reading your post. If you haven't done so yet, check out my documentary, No Bridge Too Far. I think you would enjoy it. BTW, Ken Burns was my inspiration!

Added: June 8, 2014

Submitted by
Name: Kathleen
From: Michigan
E-mail: kathleenanne35@gmail.com

Comments:
I am searching for anyone who knew my Uncle,Horace R. Higgins who served with the 87th Engineers. Landed on Utah Beach and built pontoon bridges including the one over the Rhine from which General Patton urinated. I have that picture! I think it was given to each man in the unit. My Uncle "Hoy" died much too young in Detroit over 30 years ago but I have all of the materials relating to his years of service. Would love to know if anyone from his unit is still alive and remembers him.

Admin reply: Ah, a Detroit man! My family is from Detroit. It's great that you have his items from the war.

Added: June 7, 2014

Submitted by
Name: John J Heinen
From: Now Texas
E-mail: johnjheinen@gmail.com

Comments:
My father John (Jack) Joseph Heinen
He enlisted in the US Army March 24, 1943 and was a member of another Engineer Combat Battalion but transferred to the 148th Engineer Combat Battalion prior ot shipping out.
On June 6, 1944 the 148th Engineer Combat Battalion landed on Utah Beach in Normandy.
The plan was for them to follow the leading waves of infantry. The landing actually took place at an unscheduled location, so the engineers landed with the infantry. Under enemy fire they waded ashore in 4 feet of water carrying 60 pound packs of explosives.

Admin reply: Hello John: Yes, very scary when you think of the landing and what they had to endure. Thanks for your post.

Added: June 6, 2014

Submitted by
Name: Josh Friend
From: Wheelersburg, Ohio
E-mail: joshfriend01@gmail.com

Comments:
I am trying to research my great uncle's military career, but I can find next to nothing about his unit. Here is what I do know. I have his "serviceman's address book", and by using that resource I found that he was with the 981st engineer company attached to Patton's 3rd Army. By the looks of some of the comments in the address book, he was in Regensburg, Germany. The address book contains the names, addresses and ranks of 32 different men. It's a tremendous piece that I will treasure for many years. I also have in my possession, several of my great uncles military related items. For example, his dress jacket (which I had framed in a shadowbox), a military issue duffel-bag filled with several items(canteens, leg warmers(?) and smaller bags) And I also have about a dozen pictures(one of which is a German plane that "they shot down"

. At any rate, I have reached a stand still, any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,

Josh Friend

Admin reply: Hi Josh: Enjoyed talking with you via email. Hope you are finding out more all the time.

Added: May 30, 2014

Submitted by
Name: Kathleen Dahl
From: Minnesota
E-mail: dahlkd@yahoo.com

Comments:
Seeking info on Hdqr Btry of 976th F.A. Bn.
Would appreciate hearing about this unit.

976th a "Long Tom" unit attached to different units: 45th Infantry, the 36th, 34th, & 157th. Trained: Camp Shelby as HQ Btry, 35th F.A. Bn. Before shipping out, split into 976th & 977th F.A. Bn.

My dad, Cpl. Lyndon Dahl served in HQ Btry, 976th FA. (As forward observer?)

Disembarked: Italy, 10 Oct 1943. In combat Pietra-vairano, Monte Cassino, Anzio. After Rome, shipped to S. France: Oper. Dragoon. On to Belfort Gap, St. Die, Siegfried Line near Wisembourg, Helbronn, Stuttgart, & ended "a stone's throw of Austrian border"

976th F.A. Bn served 482 days of combat. Dad said: "only 4 of us came home."

At end of war, trans. to 10th Army, discharge papers don't give position w/976th.

I am going on tour of Ital. Campaign in 3 wks & interested in info about unit OR about HQ Btry / "Long Tom" units.

Admin reply: Kathleen, how was your trip? Did you find what you were looking for?

Added: May 6, 2014